Someone Who Cares
by ShortGirlWithAPen
Summary: Daryl finds Sophia alive along with the doll in 2x05, Chupacabra and they end up talking after Hershel cleaned up Daryl's wounds. alive!Sophia AU Warning: indirect mentions of abuse and direct mentions of scars


**Disclaimer- I don't own the Walking Dead or any of its characters!**

* * *

Daryl was going to find Sophia and was going to look until he finds her; no matter how long it took and where he had to go, he was going to find Sophia for Carol's sake. He could tell that she simply wanted her daughter back and he wanted to get Sophia back for her, to see the woman have a smile back on her face.

But each day, he had no luck finding the girl and Carol seemed to lose more and more hope that he would as the days went on. He never gave up, convincing himself that he would find her soon, very possibly today.

So far that day, Daryl had no luck finding Sophia, though he did manage to find her doll, so he knew she was in the area. Unfortunately, there were walkers who were a in the area as well. To add to the general bad feeling Daryl had about the day, he had also gotten an arrow in his side as he had fallen down into the stream. Daryl didn't know whether he was hallucinating when, after he had managed to fight the walkers off with the arrow he got out of his side, saw Sophia approach him.

"Mr. Dixon?" she asked quietly, reaching out to him and placing a gentle hand on his arm. "Are you alright?"

"I thought I told ya to call me Daryl.." Daryl mumbles, looking at her. He felt like he was looking at her from some far off place, halfway not believing that she was really there. "And o'course I'm a'right. Why would ya think I'm not?"

"You're bleedin'." Sophia answers, trying to help him up, but not doing it very well. "Your head is bleeding and I thought you were dead."

"Well I'm not." Daryl stands up, closing his eyes tight. Maybe he wasn't as okay as he was trying to convince Sophia he was, but he couldn't show her that. He opens his eyes and sees Sophia in the same spot as when he closed his eyes, and that's what it took to convince him that this wasn't a hallucination. "Let's get ya back to yer mama, a'right?" Sophia nods quickly and he starts heading in what he remembers as the direction of the farm, knowing that it wouldn't be a very easy journey back.

* * *

When Daryl and Sophia come back to the farm, Carol is one of the first to reach them, hugging her daughter tightly. Rick and Shane were right behind her. The two men then look over at Daryl, who was smirking at the sight of Carol and Sophia and saw that he was practically covered in blood.

"Let's get you in." Rick says, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. Rick was on one side of Daryl and Shane was on the other. Daryl tries to pull away from them, but Sophia stops him from doing so.

"You found me, please let them help you." Sophia's eyes are filled with so much pleading that he knew it wouldn't do any good to argue, and he also figured that they would stand by her, telling him that he didn't look exactly normal.

Rick and Shane get Daryl inside and Hershel starts taking care of Daryl's wounds, a situation Daryl had to admit that he was a bit uncomfortable with. A guy he barely knew checking wounds that he knew would be fine? He never thought he'd agree to something like that. Anyway, with the amount of scars he had, he just wasn't comfortable allowing anyone but himself take care of any type of wound he had, especially in that area, but they had insisted that Hershel at least look at them.

A few hours later, when Rick, Shane, and Hershel left and Daryl was laying on his side, arm curled in front of his chest as if he's still trying to protect himself. Hershel had decided that the wound from the arrow needed stitches where the wound on his head needed major cleaning and didn't look so bad afterward; he insisted that he stay in the house tonight as opposed to going back to his tent, which Daryl tried to convince him would be fine, but the older man wasn't taking any of it.

Daryl had laid Sophia's doll on the bed right behind his shoulder, just in case either she or Carol came in at some point that evening. Rick had offered to return the doll to Sophia, but Daryl insisted that it should be him to return it.

It really wasn't long before there was a soft knock on the door a second before the door opens. Daryl pulls the blanket up over his shoulders, hoping to block the view of most of his scars from whoever was coming in. A quiet voice says his name before a body sits on the bed; he turns his head and sees Sophia looking at him with a bit of worry.

"I found yer doll, Sophia." Daryl states, not knowing where to begin with the kid. He manages to grab the doll from behind him and hand it to her, sitting up carefully in the process. Sophia takes the doll from him, smiling slightly at the man. "Ya okay, kid?"

"I'm fine. Just wanted to thank you.. for finding me." Sophia looks at the doll in her hands, almost seeming intimidated by the man in the room with her.

"Ya don't have to thank me. You found me just as much as I found you." He thinks for a moment before adding, "If not more. Anyway, Shane and Rick would'a done the same thing."

"Well thank you anyway, Daryl." She smiles as she looks at Daryl. "Also I haven't seen my mom so happy in a long time." Sophia stands up quietly, looking over at him once again, before stating quietly, "Just so you know, I did see your scars. I get why you'd want to hide them and I won't say anything about it."

Sophia leaves the room, leaving Daryl to think about the interaction with the girl. He thought again of Ed and mentally kicked himself for not getting to him before that walker did. He shuddered to think of what he might have done to Sophia and Carol before the apocalypse and decided to do the little things to let them know that there were people who understood and, though he wouldn't admit what he actually thought about the pair, cared about them.


End file.
